Weekend Wool Warrior

It's about that time of year when we start thinking about quick little gift projects to make in a flash! How about a super easy wool-felt zip pouch for quilting essentials or a shave kit pouch for the guys? I've been working on some project ideas using wool felt, and I thought I would share one because it came out sooo cute!

First, I cut an 11” wide x 12” long rectangle of wool felt (this stuff is stiff enough to hold its shape, but not hard to sew through). I used 3mm 100% wool felt (I got mine on Amazon). My size was determined by my big pair of scissors and my rotary cutter, since I plan to use this pouch to carry these things to and from classes. I rounded the top and bottom edges slightly to give it a softer look.

To make the box bottom, I folded the whole thing in half and cut a 1.25” square out of both bottom corners. Here you can see what that looks like once it’s opened again. You could make this cut any size you wanted, but mine resulted in a box bottom of about 2.5” across.

Now for the embellishments. I chose three different colors of wool felt and cut a 1.5” diamond from each. You could add just about anything for embellishment, such as buttons, flowers, or monogramming your initials. Here, I lined up my diamonds, having measured the center, and then marked their placement.

Stitch each diamond down ⅛” from the edge. Even as thick as it is, this is remarkably easy to do.

I marked the midpoint between each diamond, and again on the outside of the two end diamonds for my stitched-in argyle plaid lines. I shortened my stitch length and backstitched at each end. You could use a triple straight-stitch or go back over your stitch line more than once to make the plaid bolder.

Now for the zipper. Because wool felt has a really nice unfinished edge, you can just line the zipper up under the raw edge and stitch it into place. I turned the tab end under at the start, then gently lined the zipper up with the edge as I went.

The first side is done!

With the zipper mostly closed, I lined up the other side of the zipper with the opposite side of the pouch. I used Wonder Clips instead of pins because the layers are pretty thick. Continue opening the zipper and clipping it into place as you go.

Stitch this side in the same way as the other.

Now, turn the whole pouch inside out, and clip the two side seams together. Keep the zipper open and stitch the two side seams, backstitching across the zipper at the top edge and at the bottom notch. Clip the excess zipper off.

Turn the pouch right side out again, and clip the notch for the box bottom into place.

Stitch ¼” from the edge, backstitching at each end. Clip the edges even for a clean finish.

And enjoy your new zip pouch!

What do you think? Ready to try some wool felt projects?! I hope you found something useful or inspiring here.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Krista

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